Zapotec

The ruins of Monte Albán, the ancient Zapotec capital in Oaxaca, Mexico, are a UNESCO World Travel Ink/Gallo Images/Getty Images

An American Indian people, the Zapotec developed an advanced civilization in what is now southern Mexico centuries before Europeans arrived in the Americas. The Zapotec still live in the area, which is now part of the state of Oaxaca. They are Middle American Indians who speak a number of dialects of a language that is also called Zapotec. Because speakers of one dialect

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